Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 29 July 2019

'Elvis in Vegas' is a gem of pop culture history

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL ica's adult playground. Shore and others, visitors of water when he first per-
Associated Press Blending new interviews could see first-rate come- formed there, in 1956, and
"Elvis in Vegas: How the King with top-drawer research dians (Shecky Greene, Don with just one hit, "Heart-
Reinvented the Las Vegas focusing on how Las Vegas Rickles, Buddy Hackett, break Hotel," to his credit.
Show" (Simon & Schuster), evolved as the pleasure Bob Newhart), film and TV Rock 'n' roll wasn't what
by Richard Zoglin capital, Zoglin produces a favorites (Danny Kaye, Mil- the typical Vegas patron
For the King of Rock 'n' Roll, gem of pop culture history. ton Berle, Red Skelton, Gin- sought at the time and
the 1960s was a slow-mov- For the promoters of Las ger Rogers, Betty Hutton, the gig fizzled. But Elvis the
ing abdication. Vegas in the 1930s, live mu- Van Johnson), and musical man loved the all-day, all-
Elvis Presley spent the bet- sic was just another way to reviews featuring barely night quality of the city and
ter part of that decade ap- attract visitors to the desert, dressed if not topless show- would frequently visit be-
pearing in one silly movie following in the footsteps of girls. A future president tween movies.
after another instead of saloons, prostitution, easy had a Vegas gig at one Thirteen years and millions
performing live, a career divorce and gambling. Af- time: actor Ronald Rea- of records later, Elvis chose
strategy that tested the pa- ter World War II, high-class gan, whose opening act Las Vegas for his return to
tience of his fans and cost hotels like the Flamingo, the was a group of performing live performing. He pulled
him his edge in the mu- Thunderbird and the Desert chimps. out all the stops at the In-
sic world. Meanwhile, The Inn made their debuts with Eventually, even the stars ternational Hotel and, in This cover image released by
Beatles and the rest of the the help of mobsters eager who came to define Vegas Zoglin's words, "established Simon & Schuster shows "Elvis
in Vegas: How the King Rein-
British invasion bands were to invest in an all-cash in- cool — chief among them a new template for the vented the Las Vegas Show,"
redefining popular music dustry ripe for exploitation. Frank Sinatra, Dean Mar- Las Vegas show: no longer by Richard Zoglin.
just as he had done years Hotels offered headliners tin, Sammy Davis Jr. and an intimate, sophisticated, Associated Press
earlier. — among them singers Nat the rest of the Rat Pack — Sinatra-style nightclub act,
In 1969 Elvis decided King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald faced in the early 1960s the but a big rock concert-like seat.
he wanted to regain his and Mel Torme — and soon same problem that would spectacle." Two backup Vegas revitalized Elvis' ca-
throne. "Elvis in Vegas" is au- Vegas was tops in night- confront Elvis at the de- singing groups, a rhythm reer — he returned twice
thor Richard Zoglin's fasci- club-style entertainment. cade's end: a creaky act band, a full orchestra plus a year to repeat his initial
nating tale of how the king The 1950s and '60s were and increasingly creaky the indefatigable Elvis — success — and he showed
got his groove back and golden years for the city in fans as tastes in music and "the star," writes Zoglin, "was the town the way forward
Las Vegas refreshed its own the desert. Besides hearing comedy changed. now his own spectacle." For for continuing to attract
image, together supersizing songs from Rosemary Cloo- Elvis was no stranger to Ve- two shows a night for four people with money in their
live entertainment in Amer- ney, Vic Damone, Dinah gas. He had been a fish out weeks, this star filled every pockets. q